The Kaduna Division loses one of its senior jurists as colleagues and family remember a judge whose career spanned the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The Nigerian judiciary is mourning the passing of Hon. Justice Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero, a Justice of the Court of Appeal attached to the Kaduna Judicial Division, who died in Cairo, Egypt, after an illness. His death was confirmed by members of his family on Wednesday.
Justice Bayero was one of the senior Justices serving in the Kaduna Division of the intermediate appellate court, where he sat on panels that determined a broad range of civil, criminal and constitutional appeals. Recent judicial postings placed him among the Division’s most senior members, alongside the Presiding Justice and other experienced appellate jurists.
Although his death has elicited an outpouring of grief within legal circles, Justice Bayero was widely regarded as a reserved judicial officer who preferred the discipline of the courtroom to public attention.
Before his elevation to the Court of Appeal in 2018, he served on the Bench of the Kano State High Court, building a career that eventually carried him to one of the country’s highest appellate courts.
At the Court of Appeal, Justice Bayero participated in decisions touching on criminal justice, constitutional rights and civil disputes. In one recent panel decision, the Kaduna Division reaffirmed that only the Chief Judge of Kaduna State—not an individual trial judge—possesses the statutory authority to transfer a criminal case from the High Court to a Magistrate Court, underscoring the principle that judicial powers must be exercised strictly within the limits prescribed by law.
In another judgment delivered by Justice Bayero, the Court of Appeal considered allegations of unlawful arrest and detention in a fundamental rights enforcement appeal, reflecting his involvement in cases concerning the protection of constitutional liberties.
He also sat on panels that determined serious criminal appeals, including capital offences, and commercial and civil matters arising from northern states under the jurisdiction of the Kaduna Division.
In an obituary released after his passing, Justice Bayero’s family described him as a man of integrity, fairness and quiet generosity, recalling a jurist who regarded the administration of justice not merely as a profession but as a public trust. They said Nigeria had lost a judge they believed still had many years of distinguished judicial service ahead of him.
His death comes at a time when Nigeria’s appellate courts continue to shoulder an expanding caseload, with the Court of Appeal remaining the final forum for most election disputes and a crucial institution in the country’s constitutional and criminal justice architecture.
Condolence messages from the Bench, the Bar and the wider legal community are expected in the coming days as colleagues pay tribute to a judicial career that stretched from the trial courts to the nation’s second-highest court.
Justice Bayero is survived by his family, colleagues on the Bench and a body of judicial work that will continue to speak through the law reports long after the courtroom has fallen silent.
